reading frenzy...

I haven't gotten any thing done the past few days because I've been reading like crazy...

I read this

I enjoyed it, but I don't really know "but" what? I like Nicholas Sparks, because his books are well, "nice". Maybe that's what the problem is, everything is just too "nice" you know? But if you'd like to read it free and you can't get a copy at the library, hop on over to paperbackswap.com, (see link to right). I so love that site, I know I keep saying that, but it's just so cool to get books in the mail, wrapped up like little presents that I didn't have to pay for...it just makes me go all gooey inside... and likewise the fact that my discarded paperbacks find happy little homes where they will be read again....ahhhhh

I also read this

and loved it loved it loved it....If you do want to read this, though I suggest starting with "You Slay Me" and "Fire Me Up" . This is book 3 in the Aisling Grey, Guardian Series, and Katie Macallister does not disappoint. I love it when a book takes me to a completely different world, unaware of what's going on around me like these books do.

You can jump in the middle and still understand what's going on, but you get the whole picture if you start at the begginning.

Which leads me to this the 4th book in the series....which I am almost done with. I'm kind of sad because I hate to see the series end, but Katie is continuing the "Dragon" stories with a new book coming in May, so I don't think we've really seen the last of Aisling.

and in a move very unlike me....I am going to send up a little prayer that the Colts beat the Titans, so that the Browns can go to the playoffs this year (they haven't been since 1994). Even though I'm not that big of a football fan, I am a hometown girl at heart

If you haven't signed up yet, Lain over at Scraphappy is hosting a "GET A LOAD OF THIS CHALLENGE" over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It's a "LayOut A Day" challenge for the month of January. It's FREE!! It promises to be a lot of fun. It's FREE. There are prizes everyday and a grand prize at the end of the month. It's FREE...did I mention it's FREE??? Plus for every person that signs up, for FREE, she is donating 1$ to "Books for Kids". Just follow the link above to her blog to the link to BPS. Which sounds more complicated than it is.

One last thing, if your looking to print pictures Winkflash has a 6 cent print special going on, unlimited amount of prints. I've used them before and was very happy with the prints, and the delivery. Use this code: SAVE6PRNT

That's all my fearless friends...If I don't get on tomorrow, (I'm working) Have a Happy New Year and I'll see you in 2008. Which only be 2 days from now...:-)

Coffee Anyone?

It is the aroma that lets me know it's time to start the day...


but even in the afternoon if I'm somewhere and catch a whiff of it brewing


I swear my eyes open a little wider, my heart starts beating faster


and my mouth starts to water


Anywhere you go in the world, it's what makes it feel like home





It is rushing around in the morning getting ready for work, and the kids ready for school


It is a rainy Sunday afternoon curled up with a good book


Those moments you keep for yourself before waking everyone up


Sitting outside on a cold day with your hands wrapped around a steaming mug





It's always been there like an old friend


Whether I'm chatting with friends at Starbuck's


Sitting up in bed watching the morning news with my husband


Or sharing someone's grief

It is simply, my obsession

This layout was inspired by Christi's Creative Prompt #18

The photos in the mosaic at the top and in the layout are from flickr...

I love flickr just browsing through people's photos, sounds kind of stalkerish I know but there are some very talented photographer's that post their work there.

Hope everyone is doing well...

Thanks for stopping by!

is it really over?

Back to real life again?

I suppose so. Kind of a bummer, but I'm trying to get myself out of the Christmas let down...

I hope everyone had a great holiday! The past few days have been wonderful....
here are some of the highlights

Since connecting the xbox 360 to xbox live, all 3 of the boys, yes the one I'm married to also, are on planet Halo 3. I will definitely have to set a time limit when they go back to school, but for now I'm letting them have at it. B and L were able to hook up with their friends that moved to Japan, which has been great for both of them.

While they've been so busy I read this book

Another awesome read by Jodi. She's becoming one of my favorite authors. I can't even really describe it because it's about so much more than what you think it's going to be. At it's heart, it's a love story of two teenagers and how an act of violence tears apart their families, but it's really so much bigger than that. I saw the ending coming, to an extent but that's ok, it was all I hoped it would be.

I also spent some time on GoodReads.com filling my bookshelves with "reads" and "to reads". It's amazing how don't realize how much you've read until you sit down to put together a list like that.

I did also get a little bit of scrapping done...

Here is Lain's 30 minute Thurs challenge...barely under the wire

and pencil lines sketch #64

It's been kind of hard to be creative lately. My mind has been all over the place and I've been working a little more than usual. Especially when I've been feeling really lazy and all I want to do is take naps and eat pie.

Apparently someone caught me during my nap time on Christmas Day. Speaking of pie, I don't make pies. Not the home made anyway. I'm more of a "take it out of the box and thaw" kind of girl. Well, if you haven't tried Marie Callendar's Razzleberry Pie, then you must. You absolutely must and you must eat it with vanilla ice cream. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

On Christmas Eve we went to see National Treasure Book of Secrets..it was really good. We all liked it so a really great family movie.

That's all for tonight.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Merry Christmas...

working all weekend so I could be off on Christmas has kept me away from my creative space and my computer....

to anyone out there, who is taking a minute in this wonderfully busy night to check email or read a blog or two

Merry Christmas to you and yours

may your day be filled with blessings and laughter

family and friends (and good food)

and to all a good night....

Curious about Discipline...

Maria over at Mommy of Four tagged me with this Meme about what our thoughts are on discipine....wow..."thoughts" on "discipline" this is hard since I rarely think very hard about anything...is there a right answer?

I guess I should start by giving a little background on how my husband and I were raised, because I think, good or bad, that most of us either parent the way we were parented, or make a concerted effort to NOT parent the way we were parented. My husband and I are somewhere in the middle.

Rob's Dad was an MTI (Military Instructor) in other words, he was the guy who screams at everyone and looks scary and intimidating in Basic Training. I actually have pictures of him and his brothers lined up outside their rooms in the morning for inspection. So discipline in his house, to say the least, was to the extreme. I, on the other hand, was sort of an afterthought. This isn't a pity post, really. My parents had me in an effort to save their marriage when they were both in their early forties. My sisters were 18 and 20. Anyway, long story short, it didn't work. My mom was mostly exhausted by then and overcome with her new role as divorcee, single parent, grandparent and my Dad was really busy with his new wife and family. Soooo, I really didn't have any structure or discipline at all. My sister kind of took over where she could, and my mom and I ended up living with her and her family. I was loved, don't get me wrong. There are all kinds of families out there, mine was one of the many different ones. I think of my nephews as my little brothers....

Where does that leave us and our kids? First I would say BALANCED. Rob's need to be more "laid back" and tendency to let things go, with a "honey, they're boys" and my need for structure and control tend to balance each other out. Next, I think I would say CHOICES. Our boys are 12 and 9, so when they do something wrong, I try to stress the fact that this was a bad choice, that doesn't necessarily make them a bad person. They also have choices concerning what their discipline should entail. Do they want to have the TV taken away or go to bed an hour early? I Confess, I yell. I don't like to yell, but I think it comes from not being heard unless my volume is on high. I should stress though, that we, as a family, are loud in general and whether it's happy yelling or mad yelling, there is usually yelling in our house. Finally, I think, a certain SENSE of HUMOR is needed in any aspect of parenting especially discipline. Sometimes Rob and I look at each other after a situation where the kids have gotten in trouble and just crack up. I can remember an incident recently where the boys had been fighting, and Britain wouldn't let Landon play one of his games. To get him back Landon went in Britain's room and blew his nose on his brothers pillow. Disgusting, I know, but a part of me had to respect the pure genius of his sneakiness as well.

wow...this was really interesting reading what everyone thinks about this issue.

Miche does not spare the rod.

Jo-N wants to be her children's best friend.
Tot's Mom spares the rod and believes in patience.
Huckdoll spares the rod and believes there are more effective yet gentle ways to discipline than spanking.
Kelly at Ordinary Art has a three-step approach that does not always work but leaves tiny tushes mark free.
OhMommy has spanked and never will again.
Amy spanks when necessary.
The Sports Mama found it depended on the individual child and the situation.
Karen thinks that each situation needs dealt with differently.
Maria sets high expectations and likes "the talk".

AmyC uses choices and a sense of humor

I'm tagging Leslie, Christi, Stephanie, Kylie and Kim

what you need to do

Write your thoughts. Copy the above paragraph with your own thought attached. Tag 5 new people to do this. Then comment back to me.

Thanks everyone!

Deep breath in....and ooooouuuutttt

Take a minute...or two...or ten

and embrace imperfection...

Forgive yourself for it

Let it go

breathe

and decide right now to enjoy what's left of the holidays and to not stress yourself out over what you haven't finished, instead congratulate yourself on what you have

just be

Today was the last day of school, the boys are officially off for the holidays, and Rob and I will be playing "tag team" as far as work and staying home with the boys. I did get some creating done today...

Here is creative prompt #17

This is only the second time I've tried journaling on the photo with photoshop elements...I think I'll be doing it a lot more, I love the look.

here's a card inspired by CPS

I haven't ever been much into cards but I think I'm getting addicted...

Here's another one inspired by sketch this card

and here is sketch #63 from pencil lines

that's all folks...

have a great night

finally done...

well almost...I still have to figure out what I'm going to get Rob, but...everyone else is done and is either mailed out or for the kids wrapped...yay yay yay

Mary Poppins has been busy making these...

I'm so glad she lives in my oven...

I made a small paper bag album for my mom and a necklace with a photo charm one of Lain's Christmas Countdown projects at scraphappy...here are some pics

and here's me wearing mine because I can't take it off and put it on by myself, I know I'm helpless...

something I almost never do is make cards so today I decided to play a little and this is what I came up with...

my kids have the "ready for Christmas break" blues going on...I had about the worst "mommy" morning ever...after they found out school wasn't closed because of the snow, it was one battle after the next and I just hate taking them to school when we've all been arguing...so I made them these little pick me up cards to leave them in the morning...I'll be at work, so Rob will be getting them off...

guess you can tell we're movie buffs around here...

that's about it for tonight...hope everyone has a great day

hope to see you tomorrow...

Brown...

One of the reasons that one of my favorite colors is brown is in direct relation to the many brown things that bring me constant joy...

first the obvious

coffee, chocolate, naked chipboard, naked husband (he's hispanic sorry but had to go there.. lol) and yes in that order...

but then there are those brown things that bring you once in a while surprise joy delivered by people dressed in, of course, brown (Rob always says he wishes he could get me as exicted as the UPS man) oh and as a side note we have friends, Katrina and Shawn (parents of the twins in one of my older posts) anyway he is a UPS man, who we refer to fondly as "Brown", and ... according to Katrina, I'm not the only one who falls victim to the wiles of UPS men, she says he gets hit on all the time....anyway back to the subject today I recieved a gift of happiness all the way from New Zealand!!! Janine aka Angel girl, sent me a taste of New Zealand today! She's taking a vacation from blogging for a few weeks, (it's summer there) but you can go to her blog still, she has lots of fun stuff there...

my kids and husband are already devouring the candy, which is really good....yummy....Thanks Janine!!!

Last night I finished this book...

This is book number 2 in the Aisling Grey detective series...I really like these, they're not your "run of the mill" ...Katie Macalister has a very fun, wittiness about her. Aisling Grey is a courier, Guardian to a gate to hell (although she doesn't know which one yet) a demon lord (but she's a good guy and her demon is a newfoundland), and a wyvern mate (basically a dragon's mate, which is a rare thing).It's a fun ride. There are two more books in the series. My copy came to me free via paperback swap. com see my link to the right...this is a really fun way to get books especially if you're like me and you buy a book practically every time you leave the house.

I've also been working on some layouts

Here's the 30 minute Thursday challenge from Lain at Scraphappy which was to use Rub ons on a layout...doesn't get easier than that folks so go check her out.

The rub on is the title and journaling up in the right hand corner "phrase cafe diary by EK success", I bought up a bunch of these on a scrapbooking shopping trip sometime ago and this is the first time I've used one...I love these!!

Then Christi's prompt #16

and Pencil lines Sketch #62..I've been late getting these done lately, but I really like the way they all turned out

Here are some pictures of what we've been busy doing this morning...

Now I have to go get ready for Rob's squadron Christmas party, my friend Leslie's bday party to follow...and NO KIDS TONIGHT!!!....

see you tomorrow

love and kisses!!!

ooooohhhh pretty....

Wanna know how to make these???....ok I'll tell you...

first go to walmart looking for the Star Wars Millenium Falcon Transformer (MFT)...the one where Han Solo and Chewbacca snap together to make, yep you got it the Millenium Falcon...You will not find it however, because apparently it is this years sleeper "tickle me Elmo". Everyone you ask will say "I just saw one at ......" and I go there, but they are gone....ok off subject...anyway...since you are there at walmart, you'll of course pick up about $100 worth of "stuff" that you need because it's there...kind of like when you go to target...and inspiration will find you between the vases and the silk flowers....so gather some styrofoam balls, I used 2 1/2 inch, some pretty ribbon, some clear pebbles (the kind you put in the bottom of a vase) and your (low temp) glue gun.....because the "Amy Factor" always means an accident is just around the corner.

I'm all about 5 ingredients or less, in cooking, crafting and pretty much all aspects of life...anything that requires more than 5 steps just gets too complicated and makes my brain too noisy.

Using your glue gun cover the styrofoam ball with the pebbles...

As my models, Britain 12, and Landon 9 are showing you it is really quite easy. I'm am so loving the time that I'm getting with my boys while we make stuff, they've never really been interested in it before. Tie a ribbon around it, secure with glue and then I tied another one and secured to hang it from the tree. These do end up kind of heavy. They catch the light beautifully though.

I also have a layout for Christy's prompt #15

I haven't been around as often as I'd like. I, like everyone else I think, am a little overwhelmed right now with the holidays, work, kids, husband...I am off tomorrow though and I hope I'll get some more stuff done. That is between running my husbands errands, laundry,usual boring house stuff.

I snapped this picture of Cocoa today when I got off work.

oh and ps..I gave in and got the Star Wars MFT from ebay, now I just have to hope it gets here in time.

Just look at these happy faces....

why are they so happy? Well, because being the slacker mom that I am,

I sometimes like to cheat for dinner and that means SNACK NIGHT!!!!

Snack night means whatever fun snacky stuff I have in the freezer to make a little snack buffet out of...tonight it meant popcorn chicken, tater tots, pizza rolls, mini corn dogs, hot wings and cheesy garlic bread...now I know that the nutritional value here is somewhere between zero and negative 10...but sometimes I like to "push the easy button" so we can have time to do some things that are a little more fun.....like this





Yes my kid is wearing a tshirt that says "my mom is a fox" and no I did not buy that for him, I think I'm cute, but not that cute...my BFF Stephanie in Japan did...(we got the box, steph thanks!!) I can't believe it, but I actually got my kids to sew handmade Christmas ornaments!! Very cheap, fun and easy....

here's the pattern


I got it out of Crafts and Things magazine, which, by the way is a way fun magazine, with lots of really fun easy projects to do, and a lot of them use recycled stuff you already have...we used the pattern to cut out two stars out of felt and then sewed them together with embroidery floss. We stuffed them with polyfill closed them up, added ribbon and popped them on the tree!!










Here's the finished products....






well then I decided to get a little
cutesy so I made one more and
added patches....














and about an hour of sibling bliss, they are back at trying to kill each other again...

Here is the layout I did for last weeks sketch at Pencil lines...#61...I don't think I got it in on time, but I really liked the way it turned out...




that's all I have for tonight... hope everyone is doing great!